Wednesday, March 22, 2006

CHAMPIONSHIP WHINING

ShrinkWrapped has a few sane words to say about the article about the study that supposedly shows that whiny kids grow up to become rigid political conservatives. (There is no link to the study that I could find). This is more wishful thinking than science, I suspect; and with the excessively low number of subjects reportedly in the original study I can state authoratatively that the conclusions of the authors don't mean a thing. Here is some of what SW has to say:

I cannot tell if the error is Kleiner's or Block's but it is a fundamental error to assume that a political liberal is more or less rigid than a political conservative; if anything, adaptability and the creation and adoption of new ideas is much more prevalent on the Conservative side of the political divide than the Liberal side. As even Democrats have remarked, they don't even know what they stand for any more, beyond a rigid and reflexive anti-Bush stance. Progressives and conservatives have switched places around the world.

Just one example: Once again, Paris is burning, and the fires this time are being set by the university age children of the comfortable middle class who have grown up in a Socialist state where jobs, when they are available, are for life, and where all one's needs are met by the state. It is unquestionable that Berkeley liberals would point to the French as the height of progressive thought and culture on the planet. Yet the paradox here is that the French rioters are not only anything but non-conformist, they are anxious, rigid, and terrified of change; they are violently reactionary. Joe N. at No Pasaran captures their mindset brilliantly, in Life is static. Nothing should ever change. Feed me.

I especially liked the No Pasaran link. There are several obvious real-life counterpoints to the assertions of this article; and if you are looking for whiny adults, you need look no further than the French rioters upset that they won't have jobs for life; the antiwar demonstrators who practically define the word "whiny" and the bunch of pathetic crybabies and assorted poor losers who can't even get over the 2004 election, let alone the one in 2000. You can still hear the high-pitched, plaintive and distressed moaning sounds coming from the various orifices of the left.

Now, that is really championship whining. Those of us on the conservative side of things are fully capable of doing our own share of whining, it is true; but we just can't live up to the competition.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has received some very interesting information about the subjects in this study, who were all the children of UC Berkeley faculty--91% of whom are classified as liberal (!). This information just might have a mitigating effect on the possible interpretations/conclusions that can be made from the data, I suspect.